Cloud spotter? Then you’re in the right place. In fact, the man who gave clouds their fancy Latin names was one of the original members of the Royal Meteorological Society. Luke Howard, pharmacist and amateur meteorologist was born 250 years ago, on 28 November 1772. MetMatters takes a look at his ten basic cloud types.

Dramatic skies and stormy seascapes have inspired many an artist over the years, such as the American Jon Schueler. His abstract paintings may not be a literal reproduction of the Scottish scenery, but can you spot the meteorology in his masterpieces? MetMatters asked Magda Salvesen, Schueler’s widow and curator of his estate, to select five of her favourite paintings and tell us more about them.

Cloud formation is beautiful to watch but harder to explain. In the third and final part of a series of articles, Frank Barrow explains the processes behind the formation of clouds in our atmosphere.

Lightning strikes and storm clouds make for dramatic and winning weather photos. Did you know that 100 lightning bolts strike the planet every second?

It is a well-known piece of weather lore that showers are associated with the month of April.  As with most weather lore, it has been in use for many centuries.

Meteorologists often talk about the atmosphere being either stable or unstable. But what does this mean?

Convective storms or thunderstorms, as they are more commonly referred to in the UK, are severe local storms associated with thunder, lightning, heavy rain, hail, strong winds and sudden changes in temperature.

The UK and central Europe is suffering another extreme heatwave, with all-time records being broken in many places.